Sighting in Kervignac, January 26, 2023

At around 9:40 p.m., a witness who was looking at the sky first heard an unusual noise and then made out the phenomenon behind it. It appeared as two intense green lights that did not flash. They moved fairly low in the sky, which the witness put between 20 and 30 degrees above the horizon, travelling from north toward east-south-east. The sighting lasted several minutes. A colleague of the witness, who lived close to where it took place, stayed indoors: they saw nothing but confirmed hearing the same peculiar noise. There is no photograph, but the account is fairly complete and precise, and GEIPAN rated the case's consistency as good.

The investigation showed that the witnesses had observed an A400M military aircraft that had just taken off from the Lann-Bihoué naval air base and was flying at low altitude. Radar tracks from the Centre National des Opérations Aériennes confirmed an A400M at the same time on a path similar to the one described. The noise, described as a droning, matches the sound of the aircraft's turboprop engines. The lights were seen at treetop level, at an elevation of about 4°, so the witness had overestimated the angle, which is common at night. Red or white anti-collision lights can be absent on a military aircraft, as it can switch them off depending on flight needs. Its grey colour also makes it hard to see at night, which is why only lights were noticed. The green lights were the aircraft's position lights, as the witness saw it from its right side. GEIPAN classified the case as A.